What is an instant pot? How to use instant pot? is the million-dollar question every new instant pot owners ask.
Instant pot is a electric pressure cooker with a stainless steel inner pot and has multi functional operations that can
cook rice ,
beans, legumes,
can make yogurt,
some delicious kheer,
saute /do tadka in the inner pot
Delay start
bake a cake
boil and steam vegetables
less monitoring with the latest addition of air fryer lid
The instantpot has various models, even some with wifi facility and personally I have been using instantpot duo 6 quarts and instantpot duo 3 quarts in my home.
What does instant pot do?
This are the high level functions a insta pot can do.
Slow cook
sauté
pressure cook
steam idli,modak,dumplings etc
make chana masala ,rajma masala using bean,chili mode
Delay start – just dump the ingredients go for a shopping and come home ad have fresh home cooked food.
Keep Warm – Ditch the microwave and set more than one food at the same time and warm the food.
Yogurt – make your own fresh homemade yogurt using instapot with less monitoring. Some other models have cake makers, egg, and sterilizer options. So what insta pot model you choose also matters.For a family of 4 instantpot 6 quarts is more sufficient and less space occupying.
The beauty of the instantpot is you can use any of your stainless steel vessels, glass (pyrex kind) into the insta pot.
Different types of instant pots
Since this is very specific to instantpot India. You have only two choices in amazon.in
InstantPot Duo 7-in-1
or
InstantPot Duo Mini – 3L 700W 7in1 Multi Use Pressure Cooker
both are the best instantpot models to use. If you are family of 4 please buy Instant pot Duo 7-in-1
Instant pot comparison
If you are in the US and want to know the best instantpot. These are the four instantpot models. Each model was released one after another with some functions. Though the instantpot models have some unique features. All the 4 models DUO, LUX, ULTRA, AND SMART have some common features as well.
High pressure| Low pressure
Saute
Slow cook
Steam
Rice mode
Stainless steel |non stick inner pot options
Delay time
Each instantpot model have different sizes. Some models have 3 qt,6qt,8qt. Some have just 3 qt and 6 qt. So you need to decide what size fits your family.
INSTANT POT LUX
The Insta Pot Lux is a 6-in-1 electric pressure cooker with functions like pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer, saute, rice mode, and food warmer.
The InstantPot Lux comes InstantPot Lux mini, InstantPot Lux 6 quart InstantPot lux 8 quart.
These are some of the instantpot lux you can buy from amazon.
Instant Pot Lux 6-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Sterilizer Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Saute, and Warmer, 6 Quart, 12 One-Touch Programs
InstantPot Lux 6-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Saute, and Warmer|6 Quart|Red|12 One-Touch Programs
Instant Pot Lux 8-Quart 6-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker
INSTANTPOT DUO MODEL
The instant pot duo model has most of the same features as the LUX MODEL whereas this has some additional features like yogurt but this duo model doesn’t have cake functionality.You can find all instant pot duo model in this link here – INSTANT POT DUO
The DUO mini is great option for the family of two.
INSTANTPOT SMART
The instantpot smart model comes with ultra technology like you can operate with a smartphone with the instantpot app.
Shop here for INSTANT POT SMART
WONDERING WHY INSTANT POT ?
If you are the one like me thinking why instantpot when I have a pressure cooker?Here are few reasons i justified myself before owning one instant pot before a year back.
Here are the below reasons “why should I buy insta pot when I have a pressure cooker”:
- The first and top most reason is it has a base made of stainless steel.Which has really impressed me.It been more than 3 years im staying away from nonstick utensils.I have been substituting with cast iron or stainless steel.Lodge is my favourite cast iron brand and i recommend it anytime.
- Delay timer – I can just load my insta pot and go for a shopping or even early breakfast is ready without any interventions. Which is very safe I do this almost all weekends. My family can have healthy homemade food.
- Zero monitoring – Every day when I put my toddler to nap, I can spend time with my baby telling stories whereas instantpot takes care of my cooking and also no whistling noise like a pressure cooker which helps my baby to sleep.
- Less Mess- It is one pot I need to clean. I feel the saute function is just brilliant find in the insta pot. Sometimes when we do Indian cooking on the stovetop the mustard seeds will crackle and spread everywhere, in turn, will create a lot of mess. Its also dishwasher safe.
- Slow cooking – When I want to make some desserts I can vouch for you how complicated recipes can be made in a breeze. You can find a few listed below.
- Rice – Can you believe the rice is ready in 3 minutes? Yes, I was amazed how beautifully it’s cooked in 3 minutes.
- You can do multi cooking from soups ,porridge,yogurt,idli batter fermentation,desserts,saute,sprouts,steaming vegetables etc.
- You can even warm your food.
After the arrival of insta pots, I threw my electric cooker with nonstick bottom, microwave, nonstick pans. Very soon I will be sharing instant pot Indian recipes in this instant pot India website
When is the best time to buy instant pot ?
The best time to buy to instant pot during November(thanksgiving) and December(Christmas) and also during July (amazon prime day)